Beth can finish on a high and be our best, bar none

The South African-born athlete, who moved to England aged two, thought at the time of the injury that her Olympic bid was over after landing awkwardly in training. "After 'ow', my first thought was 'no Olympics for me'," she said. "I looked over at my coach and my expression said as much. My foot went black and blue pretty much straight away but my coach told me not to panic and packed me off to the hospital.

"They know me pretty well there [Tweddle has had a catalogue of injuries over the years, ranging from a broken ankle to a torn bicep in her shoulder]. Thankfully, after a week on crutches, I was back walking again." Her recovery has been rapid but the injury has cost her time working on her allround skills and her floor routine in particular, another area where she has proved a world beater in the past. But she has every confidence her ankle will hold up on the day, as will her nerves.

Tweddle says the most nerve-wracking performance was not the one on the bars that won her the World Championship title in 2006 but instead a brief display in front of an illustrious audience at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. "I'll arrive at the Olympics knowing I'll never be as nervous as that," she said.

"I was in such a different environment that it completely threw me. I couldn't help thinking that, if I went sideways, I'd end up on Alan Shearer's knee. Thankfully I didn't. I'm not sure how well that would have gone down."

That year, 2006, has been the best of her career, and as well as getting a starring role in the BBC show she also came third in the competition.

But she might surpass that if she wins a medal from Beijing, her penultimate major championships before her planned retirement at the World Championships in London next year.

"I'll be too old for the London Olympics," she said. In fact, Tweddle's the elder stateswoman of British and world gymnastics and has used her experience to good effect to aid her team-mates - although she admits hanging around with 13 and 14-year-old team-mates has had an impact. "I guess that's why I'm so immature," she joked.

"But they are a lot more mature than the students I meet at university."

University is in Liverpool, where she recently qualified with a 2:1 in sports science and where she will begin a course to train to become a physiotherapist after the Games are over, a time she's approaching with slight trepidation.

"I'm already weaning myself off the gymnastics and it's not easy," she said. "It's not that it's a drug - although I do get an amazing buzz out of it - it's just it's been such a big part of my life so the transition will be tricky. But with my injuries I've definitely got an insight into what you need to be a good physio!"

As for what she'll miss most when she finally packs up gymnastics, it's the thrill of the bars.

"The only way I can describe what it's like when I'm up there is like being on a rollercoaster but a rollercoaster I'm in control of," she said. "People don't know what's going to happen next but thankfully I do."